ESA : Large antenna deployment .- Despliegue de antena grande

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A 5 m-diameter antenna, designed for orbital operations, seen after a test deployment. Large reflectors are increasingly required for telecommunications, science and Earth observation missions.

“Up until now, European industry has not been able to field reflectors larger than 4 m in diameter, while the US, Japan and Russia are operating much larger reflectors in orbit,” says ESA’s Jean-Christophe Angevain.

The challenge is to develop a reflector that can easily be stowed within the limited space available inside a launcher fairing and then opened to its full size while remaining sufficiently stable and accurate afterwards to meet strict performance requirements, including the use of high-frequency radio signals.

This reflector was developed as part of an effort addressing a full large deployable antenna system through ESA’s Basic Technology Research Programme (TRP), by a consortium led by HPS GmbH in Germany, with Germany’s Large Space Structures being responsible for the reflector and its deployment.